Best of 100 Days
by FromScratch413
Summary: The best one shots from my 100 Days of One Shots project this past summer. I don't own any of the Grey's Anatomy characters mentioned in these one shots.
1. Keep Your Eyes On Me

**Finally putting some of my 100 (well 120) days project on here. It's just a "Best of" aka my faves, and I'll do it once a week. If you read them and have faves let me know and I'll probably put it up. All Bellie stories excluded, those are already up :) **

**This was a prompt asking for Jackson to sing JT. I'm sure it was meant to be fluffy. I went darker with it though. I do not own "Mirrors". Justin Timberlake, and whoever else wrote it, does. I also don't own Any characters within Grey's Anatomy. Shonda Rhimes does.  
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><p><em>100 Days of One Shots, Day 11:<em> "Keep Your Eyes On Me"

"We have an 18-year old rape victim, came in 10 minutes ago, unconscious and badly beaten. Multiple fractures, including the pelvis. Dr. Kepner is working on her right now; we needed a consult for her facial fractures. But Dr. Avery, Dr. Kepner is… April is pretty shaken up. I…I've never seen her like this." Cassandra's eyes widened with concern as she spoke to Dr. Kepner's husband. She had worked on countless surgeries with April Kepner. They'd seen worse traumas than this. But she'd never seen the trauma surgeon react like this. Cassandra purposefully made sure Jackson Avery was the plastic surgeon paged, and watched the scrub room so she could warn him as he scrubbed in.

"Thanks, Cassandra. I…I'll figure it out. Or I'll try. You paged Hunt?"

"He's away on business sir, remember, Dr. Kepner's covering his shift? And Dr. Lyson isn't available."

"That's right, OK, it'll be OK." Jackson said, as much for himself as for Cassandra. He entered the operating room, wondering exactly what he would encounter, nervous.

"What've we got, Dr. Kepner?" he asked, approaching the patient.

"18-year-old rape victim, broke her pelvis in a fall…I, I think…or…I…I can control the bleeding, I will…I'm putting in an external fixator so I can assess the damage to her organs. She also has a broken cheekbone, jaw, and eye socket. Was unconscious when she came in. I told them to call neuro first, why are you here?"

"I'm sure they called neuro at the same time as me. Dr. Shepard will be here."

Jackson watched his wife work a second. Derek Shepard or any other doctor or nurse in the hospital besides himself and Cassie would probably think she was fine. Her tremor was slight, her fear not at the surface of her voice, but it was there.

"Hey April, sweetheart, when that bleeding's under control, will you look at me?" His wife gave a small nod.

Jackson assessed the girl's facial injuries. He thought it best not to get in April's way unless it was absolutely necessary. The woman had taken quite a beating. There was substantial damage to both of her eye sockets, though only one was broken. And a broken jaw was never a good thing.

"What, Jackson?" April asked, two minutes later.

"What's her name, April?" April always knew her patients' names and as much information about them as she could possibly obtain before surgery.

"Eliza Carson." She put her instruments down as she answered her husband. Her hands were still shaking.

"What happened to Eliza?"

"She…she was jogging in Prospect Park. A witness saw at least two men running away, bloody. It…it was 6:30 p.m."

Jackson's heart dropped. Suddenly April's reaction made sense. If she weren't covering for Hunt tonight, she would have been jogging in Prospect Park at 6:30 p.m., as she did every evening she was off. It was around the corner from their house. She was also 6 months pregnant with their daughter.

"What else, sweetheart?" Jackson swallowed. There was something else, he could tell.

"The paramedics brought in her Ipod…it…it was paused on Katy Perry." April was fighting back tears.

"You jog to Katy Perry?" Jackson asked. April nodded, looking down at Eliza's body, open on her table.

"Hey April, Eliza is going to live, right? You controlled her bleeding and stabilized her pelvis, right?" April nodded. "But, she still needs a lot of help. You need to check her bladder, ovaries, and large intestine next, right?" Again, a nod. "You need to think about Eliza right now, she needs you to focus on her. You believe that God kept you out of that park tonight for a reason, right?"

"Y-Y-Yes." April's voice wavered.

"And I believe that Eliza's journey is not yours. Part of your journey right now is to help Eliza. The other part is to deliver our happy, healthy baby girl in three months. That's what I believe you're going to do, am I right?"

"I think so."

"OK, so, you need to take a deep breath and focus on getting your hands to stop shaking. Can you do that?" April nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on steadying her hands.

15 seconds later she opened her eyes, hands steady. She looked at her husband. "Thank you," she said, looking straight into his eyes before turning her attention back to her patient.

"For what? I haven't done a thing yet….hey Cassie? We need some positive energy in this room, do you mind turning on some music for us?"

"Not at all, Dr. Avery, not at all, what would you like to hear?" Cassandra asked, smiling at him in gratitude behind her surgical mask. She'd watched him slowly, carefully, almost systematically calm down his wife. It was amazing. She was so glad she'd called him; he was the only person in the world who could calm April Kepner down so completely, Cassie was sure of that. She'd listen to three hours of heavy metal for him right now, if he wanted to hear it.

"Don't know. Dr. Kepner, what do you think Eliza would like to hear?"

"Hmmm….she seems like a Justin Timberlake fan to me…" There was no trace of fear left in her voice.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "I was afraid of that….Alright Cass, turn up the Timberlake," he groaned. April laughed.

"Mirrors" suddenly filled the air of the operating room. "Ugh…one of these ovaries is shot, hopefully Dr. Hale can save the other one," April commented.

"She will. Hey once your consults are here you can help with Eliza's face, right? I think we can do it, but I need my second." Jackson called April his second all the time. It meant second in command, the second half of his heart, the only teammate he wanted. April nodded, smiling at him.

The best part of the song kicked in and Jackson sang, unconsciously. "Yesterday is history, ohhh…. tomorrow's a mystery. I can see you looking back at me…"

April finished the line, through laughter. Her husband never sang, especially not Justin Timberlake. Whenever she played his music, Jackson took the chance to make fun of her about picturing Jesus, cracked jokes about interrupting her prayers. "Keep your eyes on me, baby, keep your eyes on me…"

When April walked in to the operating room, she wasn't sure if she'd get through this surgery, let alone Eliza. Now, she was sure they'd both be just fine.


	2. History

**This was day 100, and I ended up going 120. I was going to go more in order but I decided to just go with my gut and put up what I want. The prompt was asking for a story about the deleted scene on the Sesason 10 DVDs. So pretty much Jackson's hand is hurt and he's depressed. It specifically asked for April to leave Jackson after he says hurtful things (so there's your warning...but read 'til the end). Also, I think it was his right hand that was hurt in the scenes but I made his left on purpose. **

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><p>"Jackson, will you <em>please<em> shut up about Thailand! Please. We're not going, you're not going, even your mother agrees with me this time. Please, Jackson just…Take over for Harper already will you? That'll be great for you. You were going to do it anyway, eventually, and you'll be working in medicine. Of course. You're an Avery, you'll always be a doctor. Babe, please! Just start moving forward. You'll be happier if you just…accept it. And then maybe we can think about completing our family…" April gave a small smile.

Jackson smacked his hand against the kitchen table, making her jump in her seat. "You and that goddamned third baby April. Yeah, let's have another baby so you can just push it out and go back to surgery, leaving me to wipe its ass all day long. Let's do that, that'll be_ great_ for you!"

"You are such a jerk, ever since the third doctor you are a complete jerk. I didn't marry this man. Where is the man I married?" She whispered the last part into her wine glass, unable to meet his eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sick of that shit, April. I might not be the man you married, but I'm the one you've got, deal with it."

"I don't have to, you know. I can leave. I can take the girls and leave Jackson. You've stopped hiding your misery from them, they're afraid of you."

"It's a beard, April. You've been making such a big deal over a fucking beard. Grow up!"

"No it's not, it's your temper. You get so mad at them, so mad for the smallest things. They're little girls, they're your little girls, Jackson. And what were you thinking, bringing a flask to that party today? Why are you drinking…you've never…"

"So I brought a drink to make the kiddie party a little bit less insufferable, shoot me. You are not so innocent. I'm so sick of you acting like I shit on your fairytale, April. It's been a nightmare. We've always lived in a fucking nightmare. From month two."

She gasped, the impact of his words literally taking her breath away. "You're the one that stood up. It might be a nightmare being married to me, but you chose it, Jackson. You chose me."

"Yeah, well maybe I chose wrong. I never wanted any of this…the marriage, the church…" He paused, seeming to think it better not to say what came next in his mind. But he did anyway. "The kids."

He whispered it so softly, at first, he didn't think she heard him. But then he felt the sting of the slap across his face. "You turned me into him, April. I never wanted to be him." There were tears in his eyes, but April didn't care. She was sick of wiping away his tears.

"You can call me all the names you want, blame me for your depression, yell at me for not agreeing with the way you want to treat your stupid freakin' hand, but to bring in my children? To say you never wanted this? What, do you have multiple personality disorder or something? Did I make those children with a different man? Because I knew a man who was kind and gentle once. He'd tell me I make him better everyday, and make him see joy in the world that he never gave a second glance to before. He wanted half a dozen children with me, because I was his one true love. And when I was pregnant, he couldn't keep his hands off me. He named both his daughters without even asking me because he was so sure of their names. I knew that man once. And he had an injury too. And he had hope. Don't lose your hope, Jackson. Don't lose hope in your life because you've lost function in your hand. I can't stay with you right now, and I can't let my children see you like this. They deserve better than father who would say that about them, even in anger. But I hope you come back to us soon."

With that, she packed up three bags, put two sleeping kids in the car, and left him in his office, watching her pull out of the driveway. She wouldn't let him say goodbye. "Find your way back, Jackson. I'm not waking them up because I have hope that you'll come back to us."

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><p>"I miss my daddy," five-year-old Arianna said, a week later, as April was brushing her hair before bed. They were staying at the Karev's house, so the girls could play with Sarah and Meghan and hopefully just think of this as a fun vacation of sorts.<p>

"I miss him too baby, but he's in Boston and he wanted you to come here to Uncle Alex's and have so much fun! Aren't you having so much fun?"

"Yeah, but daddy makes waffles for breakfast and we don't go to day care when he here. We goes to Boston wif daddy."

"Not this time, sweetheart. He'll be back, though. He'll be back." April was telling half-truths. She knew her husband was in Boston. But she hadn't a clue why. He didn't even bother to call and tell the girls goodnight. But, he might've been worried to, seeing as she didn't give him a chance to say goodbye.

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><p>"Daddy say 'Rooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrr'," Lucy Avery screamed from her spot under the covers.<p>

"I know honey, daddy screams the voices really loud for you, doesn't he? But we don't want to wake Auntie Jo up, or baby Kyle, so we have to do them quiet right now, ok?"

"Daddy come back!" she screamed. April's youngest daughter was taking the past two weeks the hardest. She clung to her dad all the time and thought he did no wrong. If only she knew. But she would never know, April would make sure of that. "Daddy come back," she said again, this time with a giggle in her voice.

April looked up just in time to see Jackson launch a tickle attack at his daughter, smothering her with tickles and kisses. April did a double take, and then let herself smile, a small smile, because she saw Jackson. No overgrown beard, no more unkempt hair. Jackson. The man she fell in love with. "How's my Lucy bell?" he asked his daughter. Because her voice always rang in his ear.

"I not a Lucy bell, daddy." The three year old squealed her indigence with delight.

"Oh yeah? What are you then?"

"I a Lucy April Abery."

"Oh, I guess that kind's fine too." He kissed her cheek.

"You are a Lucy April Avery who is up past her bedtime," April cleared her throat, standing up and throwing the book in the middle of the bed. "Let daddy finish the book, but remember, don't wake up baby Kyle." She kissed her daughter and put her finger to her lips, to remind her to be quiet. Lucy did the same.

When April went into Arianna's room, the lights were out and she was tucked in tight. April went in and kissed her forehead. "Mommy?" she asked, yawning.

"Yeah, baby. sorry."

"Daddy comed and tucked me in."

"I know. Cool, huh?"

"He gotted a haircut."

"I saw, love."

"For you, mommy. He gotted it."

"OK, sweet dreams, big girl."

"I hope you don't mind, I let him in." Alex said from his spot at the kitchen table.

April shrugged. "It's your house. Do you mind if I have some tea?"

"No, April. Don't be silly. My house is yours, you know that."

"Thanks Alex, for all of this."

"My pleasure, April. Your girls are great."

"It's been him, lately. He's done a good chunk of the raising himself."

"Yeah, but…they love you. You're a great mom."

"I know, thanks. I do my best."

"You do amazing." Jackson came in to the kitchen and put his arms around April. She squirmed away, surprised. He looked to the ground. "April, can we….talk, please?"

"Yeah, yeah sure, I'm just…I'm staying in the guest room upstairs. Goodnight, Alex, thanks again."

"I want you. I chose you. And I love my children," he said, when they closed and locked the bedroom door.

"I know you do, Jackson." She tried to busy herself drinking her tea.

"I went to Boston to see my mom…and to talk to Harper about the Foundation."

"Good Jackson, that's good for you."

"I don't wanna go to Thailand. It's over. I won't bring it up again."

April chuckled. "That's a step in the right direction, I guess."

"I don't ever want to spend two weeks without you in my bed again. I love you. And I'm sorry. For everything. There's so much April, so much to be sorry for." He was quiet. When the tear fell from his eye, she wiped it away.

"Yeah. There is. For me too. I'm sorry."

"So what now, we said crazy things."

April took her husband's left hand in hers, and kissed it. She kissed the scar that ran from his palm to his ring finger. Even though his fingers were frozen in a small claw, he insisted on wearing his wedding ring, always.

"We were mad, we can talk about it later." She kissed him, but he pulled away.

"April, you left because I was an asshole and now you're just gonna…"

"Forget it forever? No…for now? Yes. Because we're married. And I missed you. But you came back to me. And you're on the way to finding the man I fell in love with. Thank you baby, you look handsome."

"Well you were right. I was getting extra scruffy there."

"That's an understatement, honey," April giggled, sitting on his lap on the bed.

"I'll always look like, and be the man you fell in love with, from now on."

She pushed him backward on the bed, lacing her fingers with his and unbuttoning his shirt. "Mmm…good to know. We haven't had sex in a very, very long time Jackson Avery."

"Oh trust me, sweetheart, I know. Can you stop with the hand though? Please?" She kept kissing it.

"Uhh uhh, no, I can't stop it. This hand and I, we have a lot of history. I wanna show it I appreciate it tonight."

"Oh you do, huh? Deep dark history?"

"Nope. Wonderful history."

"And what is that?"

She undid his belt and undressed him, letting him flip her over and do the same. "I put a ring on that hand, when I said vows to my husband on my wedding day," she gasped as entered her. It had honestly been so long, she'd forgotten how much she loved this feeling. Her husband, inside her.

"That's true, what else?" His rhythm was slow, he was going to torture her all night.

"He used to let me kiss it…a lot….after surgeries…" she said, between soft moans.

"I remember those kisses."

"That hand held my babies."

"Yeah?" He kissed her neck, ever so slightly quickening his pace.

"Mmmm…yeah…and it pushes them on the swing."

"Yeah. Stop talking about my kids now."

"Okay…" She closed her eyes, the intensity of her emotions and his touch, his kiss, finally, his love again, too much to take with them open.

"You still wanna talk about what my hand does for you, now?" he asked, falling down beside her.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Because my husband is about to use it to make me scream louder than he's ever heard before…."

Jackson laughed. "April, I can make you come with more than just my…"

"Nope. That's against the rules."

"Oh there are rules, huh?"

"Yeah." Jackson wasn't in any position to break any of April's rules, so he did as she asked, making sure to place his other hand over her mouth at just the right moment so she wouldn't wake the babies.


	3. Thank Yous

**"Thank Yous" is from day 16. The prompt was Jackson bored at home when April is at work. I love exploring April's struggles with sex/sexuality so that's where this came from and why it's one of my faves. I also dealt with some issues early in the marriage that should've been discussed in cannon imho! I hope you like this as much as I do! Let me know! **

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><p>Jackson threw his keys on the coffee table and went to the fridge to get a beer. He sat on his couch and flipped on the news. It felt awkward to him. It shouldn't feel awkward to him. Two weeks ago, this was just part of his daily routine when he had a day shift. But, a week ago he got married.<p>

For the past four days, he'd spent his work days lusting for his wife, and they'd choreograph their exits, race each other home and attack one another as soon as they got in the door. Sex was a must, before they even thought about dinner. But, when she came back to work earlier than expected, Owen had asked April to pick up a night shift tonight. Jackson hadn't kissed his wife since 7 a.m., they just couldn't find a second alone today. It felt weird.

He turned off the news. April didn't watch it, she preferred to read the paper, where she could pick and choose what she paid attention to. News in general made her sad, she saw enough tragedy at work. Jackson had gotten used to not watching the news already.

He turned on his stereo and Justin Timberlake came blaring out. Jackson rolled his eyes, switching it off. She listened to JT while doing chores, it drove him crazy. He turned on the Celtics game for background noise and went into the kitchen to figure out what to make for dinner. He really wished he didn't have to cook, she was so much better at it than he was. He wasn't even hungry. He shut the door of the fridge and went into the living room.

Jackson flopped on the couch to watch the game and saw April's thank you note stuff out. She must have been writing some before she left for work. It broke his heart to watch her do this. He knew they were happy. _She_ was happy. But, she insisted on getting these thank you notes done, and every time she did some, she went off into her own little world. Sometimes he'd catch her crying and ask her to talk about it. She'd shake her head and bury herself in his neck. "No, I'm fine. I love you, Jackson Avery," she'd say, and kiss him.

He guessed she was thinking not only of the hurt she'd caused someone she cared about, but also of the wedding she'd never have. Yes, Jackson was going to give her whatever kind of party she wanted, with whatever dress and decorations and flowers and cake and everything. He'd even re-create a ceremony in a church if that's what she wanted. But he could never give her the day she'd envisioned. His horrible timing had ruined any chance of that. She insisted she didn't care. But he knew what her dreams were for her wedding day. He might be the right man, but he was the reason everything else was so wrong.

He looked into one of the thank you notes. "Dear Lindsay," it read, "Thank you for the beautiful candy dishes, you know me so well. I'm happy Linds, I'm so happy. Just sorry I couldn't share the moment with you. Love, Mrs. Kepner-Avery."

He was confused, then he looked at the list and piles in front of him more closely. The list was separated in two. One side said "My guests" the other said "His guests". The pile he'd picked up the note from was obviously her guest pile. There were a lot more of those. He picked up a card from the other pile. "Dear Dornell Family, enclosed is the gift you purchased Matthew for his wedding day. You should do with it what you see fit. Sincerely, April Kepner." They all read that, even the one to Matthew's mother Darlene.

April didn't have to send anything, she shouldn't even have to deal with these gifts as far as Jackson was concerned. But Arizona had taken them all for her, and she insisted on doing this. She had to take some responsibility, she said.

Jackson studied his wife's signature a second. He was definitely not neat with his, let alone pretty. April's signature was pretty. There were loops in all the right places. He checked Matthew's side of the guest list, wrote out a card as carefully as he could, and signed it "Sincerely, April Kepner," making sure his "L" looped in the right spot. He might as well take responsibility any way he could. It was clearly hard for her to write the cards for Matthew's guests, but it wasn't hard for Jackson. Plus, it was half-time.

He was halfway through the list when the phone rang. "Babe." April sounded sad.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Jackson asked, putting down his pen.

"There was a mult-car pileup on the freeway a half hour ago," she groaned. "I'm gonna be later than I thought. But I miss you so much."

"I miss you too, so much."

"What are you doing?"

"Umm…actually I'm watching basketball and I'm…"

"What?" April asked, curiosity evident in her voice.

"Don't get mad…I'm writing out your cards from Matthew's side of the list for you."

"Mad? Oh Jackson, I love you so much, thank you."

"Are you crying babe? I wish you would've told me…we could've done this together."

"No," she said, answering both things he said at the same time. Jackson knew she was lying, he could hear it in her voice.

"What are you wearing?" he asked, trying to make her laugh.

"Ew Jackson, phone sex is gross. Especially when I'm just a few minutes away." April was trying. She loved sex, and she wanted to learn whatever he wanted to teach her. When they were together before, they didn't experiment much. Being his wife gave April a new sense of trust in Jackson, but some lines, she didn't know if she'd be ready to cross.

"I missed coming home with you, though." He meant the sex. And then the rest of it.

"Me too." She meant the sex, too. And then the rest of it. "Did you eat?"

"No, I'm gonna wait for you."

"Don't wait up, and make pizza or something. I gotta go though. I love you."

"I love you, too."

At midnight, Jackson woke up from a dead sleep on the couch to a knock at the door. He jumped up. A knock at the door at midnight was never a good thing, in his experience.

Jackson opened the door to see his wife standing there in a long trench coat. "April," he yawned. "Are you OK, why'd you…"

April dropped her coat. She stood in front of her husband in a red lace bra, red lace boy shorts and red pumps. Her hair was pulled back in the tight bun he told her he loved. She bit her lip. "Fuck me," she nearly whispered. She'd never asked before, not like that.

A smile spread across Jackson's face. His wife was hot, yes. He was turned on, no question. But he also realized how hard this was for her. This was her equivalent of standing up in the middle of a wedding to profess love. He didn't know what she was afraid of, exactly, not rejection. He thought maybe she was afraid of feeling sexy. It was new to her, and she'd been taught that it wasn't a proper feeling to have. Not that he tried too hard to get into her psyche, it confused him.

Girls had shown up at his door in much less than this before, but none of those times would mean as much as this one."What'd you say to me?" Jackson smirked as he grabbed her. She wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I said fuck me, Jackson Avery," she whispered in his ear. "But oh God wait, I gotta take these shoes off, sorry." She jumped off of him, stumbling to the couch. Jackson laughed.

"You drove all the way home like that, for me?" Jackson asked, unstrapping her heels for her and straddling her lap. He kissed her lips, getting cherry red lipstick all over his face.

"Except the shoes, I'm not that crazy…I shouldn't have even worn the shoes, they ruined the moment. I wanted to say thank you for doing the notes."

"What are you talking about, they ruined nothing," he said, carrying her back to the middle of the living room again, her legs wrapped around him. "You were saying?"

April blushed and shook her head. "I said it twice Jackson."

"But now you're shy? Come on, that's not allowed anymore April, we're married." She shook her head no. "Fine. Where, where do you want me to fuck you, April?"

She giggled. "Anywhere."

"Nope, wrong answer. You thought about this, so where, where do you wanna come, Mrs. Avery?"

"On the kitchen counter," she admitted, in a small voice. He carried her there, peeling her bra off along the way. He'd forgotten about the pizza he'd set down to cool until he saw it in front of him. He set his wife down on one side of the counter and placed the pizza in the sink. Dinner could wait.


	4. Yours

**"Yours" was day 62. It's probably the most popular prompt as far as likes on Tumblr. Nothing deep. Just April trying to tell Jackson she's preggers and getting interrupted. It wasn't one of myyy altime faves at first, but thinking back, it is solid fluff. What do YOU think? Let me know! **

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><p>"Owen, I don't care what she's saying, of course she doesn't want to move. <em>You<em> tell her she has to move. You're the chief, and we need that space now. Grey-Sloan is no longer funding that research. That's just how it is…Yes, I know we're talking about Bailey, Owen." Jackson walked through the door, slamming it behind him. April took a deep breath and started to speak, but Jackson kissed her hello, cutting her off before she could say a word. He threw his bag by the door, his keys on the coffee table and scowled at the phone.

Nervous, April crossed the living room and put the keys on the hook. Then she met Jackson, who was still making faces at his phone, on the couch. Another deep breath. "Jackson, I have something to…"

Jackson put his hand over his phone."One second sweetheart." And then, to Owen. "Figure it out, Hunt. Her research lab needs to be cleared out tonight." Angrily, he hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket.

April didn't even bother with a greeting, she just had to get this out. "Jackson, I'm…"

"Burning a pizza."

"What?"

"I've done it many times, you're burning a pizza." Jackson ran across the living room and opened the oven, throwing a black pizza on the counter.

"Shoot, I'm sorry, I must've forgotten I was…" The smoke from the oven set the alarm off, just as Jackson's phone rang.

He listened for a second, frowning. "Bailey, I can't do this right now my wife's in the middle of burning down the apartment. You heard what I said. There's nothing I can do, Bailey. Call Harper if you have a problem, really." He stabbed a button on his phone, hanging it up.

"Jackson, I wasn't burning down the apartment, it's just a pizza, I…" Jackson could see April getting emotional, but he really had no patience for it tonight.

"Really April? I was _clearly, clearly_ just trying to get her off the phone." He waved a towel one last time near the smoke detector, quieting it. "It's fine, we'll get a pizza…what do you want?" He took out his cell phone, dialing the number before she had a chance to change the subject.

"Onion…And bacon. And extra cheese," she said quietly.

Jackson's eyes widened in surprise. "OK, Joey Chestnut." April let out a frustrated scream and stormed over to the couch as Jackson ordered the pizza. "Come on, babe, stop crying, you know I was just kidding," Jackson said, when he hung up and saw her on the couch, face in her hands."Usually you think I'm funny. And usually you hate bacon and yell at me when I get extra cheese…"

"Yeah, well usually I'm not…" Jackson's phone rang and he groaned, looking down at it.

"Hold that thought, it's my mother…Hello? No, mom, I'm not going back there and dragging her out of the lab. Because I just got home and clearly April lost a patient or something…"

"Stop talking about me like I'm not in the room," April whispered, voice soaked in venom.

He ignored her. "No, she's not usually like this. I don't know, none of you have given me a second to ask, we all have bad cases. YOU go handle it." April jumped, not used to hearing Jackson roar. "YOU two made this decision, you do it…I know my responsibilities as the voice of the foundation. I'm not dragging the woman out by her hair. I mean, we're not funding the research, there's nothing she can do so, just let her be tonight. Mom, this is ridiculous." The intercom buzzed. April rolled her eyes and answered it, going to the door to let the pizza boy in. "I gotta go mom…I gotta go…" Jackson said, walking behind her with the money.

"Hi, how are you?" April asked the guy when she answered the door.

"Great, how are you? That'll be 15 dollars."

"I gotta go ma…I'm over this…" Jackson handed over a 20.

"Oh, I'm pregnant," April took the pizza from the boy, smiling widely. Jackson hung up on Catherine, mid-sentence.

"Uhh, that's great lady, have a nice day." April shut the door and handed Jackson the pizza, wordlessly. She flew past him, to the bedroom.

Shocked, Jackson stood frozen still, pizza in hand. He took a deep breath, shut off his phone and went into the bedroom to face his wife. "Hi, sweetheart. How was your day? I brought a pizza home, I had a feeling you might want bacon pizza, for some weird reason." He crawled on the bed, offering her the open pizza box.

"Ha, ha Jackson, you're so funny." She pouted, taking a slice from the box.

"Anything you wanna tell me?"

"Nope."

"You didn't take any tests today? Like a pregnancy test?"

"Nope." April shook her head, mouth full of pizza.

"No?"

"Nah, just a blood test," she shrugged her shoulders, nonchalantly, giving him a sly smile.

Jackson moved the pizza box out of his way, and moved closer to April, placing small kisses on her neck. "Oh, just a blood test, huh? What did it say?"

"Oh, just that I'm having a baby." She took another piece of pizza from the box.

"Just you?" Jackson laughed.

"Yup. One vagina involved in that operation."

"Gross, I'm trying to eat here," Jackson choked down a bite of pizza.

"Oh, grow up, Dr. Avery." April giggled. "It's good pizza."

"April, whose baby are you having?"

"Babe, that's not a funny question."

He kissed her, surprising her with the intensity. "Whose baby? Tell me whose baby, April."

She let out a small breath as he reached the spot on her neck that drove her crazy. "Yours, Jackson. I'm having your baby. We're having a baby."


	5. It Stung

**Happy New Year, guys! Can't get this one off of my mind lately. It's very much a Japril prompt from Stephanie's POV. It's from day 113. The prompt was hard to explain...it was just asking for similar dialogue to what's here between Stackson. Let me know what you think. **

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><p>"Jackson, wait…" I grabbed his arm before he could enter the operating room, running to keep up with his pace. "April is…"<p>

"What? A bitch, whore, gold digger, stupid, pathetic, weak? I've heard all your whispers, Steph, and frankly you just need to get over yourself, it's been five months, and you're the pathetic one, at this point. I have a turbinectomy right now, I really don't have time for this…"

"…Missing. She's missing Jackson. We had a GSW to the chest, and mid-surgery, she just kind of, bolted."

His eyes widened and he nodded his head at me, expecting more information. "That's all I've got, Jackson. I told you, she's missing. She's not in the ER. I don't really know why Hunt is so concerned, or why I had to be the one to…"

"Did someone try her cell phone?"

"I really don't understand why you and Hunt are freaking out about this, April Kepner is a big girl, she clearly can make her own decisions. Bad ones maybe but…" I rolled my eyes as he bolted past me. I followed him, refusing to be ignored. "I'm sure she's just…"

Jackson turned, instantly shooting daggers into my eyes. "Pregnant, Stephanie, she's pregnant. That's why Hunt had the audacity to care. He knows she's 7-weeks pregnant."

Shit. How did Jackson Avery always make me feel like a completely horrible, heartless person? I ran behind him, silently. The least I could do was help him find her, now. It's not like I wished her hurt. Or her child. Oh god. Their child. That was fast.

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><p>We found her. in the worst possible situation. She was curled up in a ball, against the toilet, sobbing, head in hands. I cursed myself for wishing she'd trip when I saw them kiss this morning. "April, sweetheart, look at me, honey."<p>

Slowly, she did as he asked, tears pouring down her face. "Our baby…" she said, and he kissed her forehead.

"Oh April, let me see, let me see, love. Uncurl yourself, sweetheart. I love you. I love you. I love you. I have to see how much blood you lost." I was trying, very hard, to be numb. But it stung.

I know that it is different. She is his wife, and she just miscarried their baby. That didn't compare to eye surgery, at all. But I couldn't help but think of that night, in his apartment, when he insisted I stay and watch movies. He just sat there with his arm around me, watching the screen. "Kiss me," I'd said, and he laughed.

"You can't even see, Steph. Wait until you can properly see the beautiful face you are kissing." I hadn't thought much of it then, I just put my head on his shoulder and chuckled.

But now, watching as he cared for April in crisis…It stung a bit. He couldn't keep his hands off of her, his mouth. It was like he was trying to suck the pain out of her body and into his with his mouth. "We're going to have so many babies. So many beautiful babies April Grace, it's not your fault," he was whispering, softly, kissing all over her face. "Oh Steph, thanks for, staying…can we get a wheelchair, and can you admit her to a room, please," he turned to me, suddenly. I felt like I had violated them, by pulling him back to reality.

But she…she looked like he was the only thing that grounded her. Without his eyes to focus her, she was just a zombie, staring off in space. I nodded, mumbling a "Ye…yeah sure."

"Kiss me," I heard her say, as I backed out of the bathroom and he lifted her into his arms. "It helps me feel."

"All I want to do, for the rest of my life, is kiss you." It was different. She was his wife. She had just lost their baby. But it stung just the same.


	6. Dessert Tray

**Hey guys! I had angsty ones in my head for today or this one. But I needed sorta fluff/sorta smut to make me happy today. From Day 70, "Dessert Tray" combines a prompt for what happened on the ride to Lake Tahoe with Japril "getting into it" in the car about the 13 hrs. Hope you like! Let me know!:)**

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><p>"Hey, Jackson?"<p>

"Yes, sweetheart?" Sweetheart. April's heart skipped a beat.

"Do you have a change of clothes in the car?"

"Yup. I think I have a pair of scrubs in the back, why?"

"Can we…can we pull over so I can get them?"

Jackson looked over at April, concerned. "Sure. April, are you OK?" she was breathing fast, eyes wide again, like right before she got out of the car. He pulled over the car for the second time that night.

"Yup. Yup," April nodded, trying to look confident. "I just, I need to get out of this dress."

Jackson kissed her, first on the lips, then a tiny trail along her jaw. "Oh, well…I can help you with that." He moved his hand to help her undo the zipper, thinking how glad he was that it was so dark and this highway was deserted. It'd been awhile since he'd done anything in a car. But he didn't think he could wait.

Until April smacked his hand away. "No!" She screamed, almost angrily.

Jackson jumped back, surprised. "Sorry…I…we can go as…"

"No, it's not that. I'm sorry." April looked away, embarrassed. "It's just….I don't want you to help me out of this dress. It wasn't meant for you. I want to get another dress, just for you. It's bad luck if…"

"If I touch it? I don't think so love. Come on. Let's go in the back, you are actually going to need help out of that dress. No funny business. I promise."

"OK, fine. If you don't think it will…" She looked down, letting her voice trail off.

"Look at me, sweetheart." She looked up, slowly. "I _love_ you. I'm in love with you. And it happened slowly. It snuck up on me. But when I knew, I _knew_. The only luck involved in this relationship is…I'm lucky you love me back. Our marriage doesn't need luck. It's not a matter of luck that I let those butterflies go and thought of us planning our wedding…"

"You let my butterflies go? You weren't supposed to…"

"Whether I wore a blue tie or a red tie, whether I was early or late to that ceremony, I would have stood up…."

"I would've run to you whether he threatened me or not," April's voice was small. "Tomorrow or a month from now. I would run to you."

"See, no luck involved here. No luck." He kissed her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "This dress isn't lucky or unlucky for us. It means nothing to us. You look beautiful, but what I care about is underneath." He grinned, mischievously and she finally laughed.

"Jackson…" she blushed.

"So we're gonna go back there and I'm going to help you out of this dress. And it is going to be the first of many, many dresses I help you out of…"

"Jackson!" But there was a huge smile across her face.

"But that's it…deal?"

"Deal. But no funny business," April said, getting out of the car and going to the trunk to find the scrubs.

"Nope. I take undressing you very, very seriously," Jackson cleared his throat, jumping in the back seat to meet her.

She smacked him. "I mean it."

"So do I," he unzipped the dress, sliding it down her body, revealing her white lace corset and boyshorts. He let out a soft whistle, staring at her, placing a kiss on her collarbone.

"Jackson, you should…."

"Shhh…it's just a kiss, they're just kisses."

"Just a…"

"I think, you need help with the rest of this. He moved closer to her on his knees, slowly moving his fingers down her body. She didn't protest. Not even when his fingers slid inside of her.

One second. Two seconds. "Oh, god…" Three seconds. Four seconds. "Jaackson…" Five seconds. "No." She moved away. "I want the first time I…" She corrected herself. "The next time I…" She shook her head, the words were coming out all wrong. "The first time we make love, I'm gonna be your wife."

"The first time, huh?" But he was smiling.

"Yeah, babe. The first time. It's gonna be so amazing, you're gonna thank me for making you wait. And actually, you know what? No more kissing until we're married."

"No more kissing, sweetheart, don't be ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous. Because you kiss me and then I wanna touch you and then it's just…bad."

"You looked like you were having a pretty good time to me."

"I was…I was just…"

"I'm still the dessert tray," Jackson sighed.

April nodded, apologetically. "You're still the dessert tray…for a few more hours. In fact, just touching you feels like taking that first, evil bite. No more touching." April nodded her head resolutely.

"No more touching? Who are we, the Duggars? I know you love Jesus, but…"

"You watch the Duggars?" April wrinkled her nose.

"Stephanie used to…" Jackson stopped himself.

"Anyway. And separate beds. Maybe even separate rooms because when we get there, we're gonna have to nap before…"

"Separate rooms to nap? I love you, but this is…Come on, I'm gonna drive now. I can't have this conversation."

"Hey…" April held his hand to stop him from getting out of the car. "But tomorrow night. Everything. Everything I wear, you get to take off." She whispered in his ear, "What should I wear for you, Jackson?"

He smiled. "You're holding my hand, April," he whispered back.

"Fine. We can touch. We can even nap in the same bed. But don't you dare try to kiss me, anymore, mister. That way, our first kiss is…"

"Better than chocolate cake?" He eyed her, skeptically. She was so ridiculous sometimes.

"Easy. I don't even like chocolate cake. What should I wear for you, Jackson?"

"That. Wear that."

"I can't," April said, apologetically. She lifted her butt slightly, so he could see "Mrs. Taylor" printed across her underwear in rhinestones.

"Ugh god, those are awful, take them off please." He got on his knees, searching the back of his trunk until he found a random spare pair of boxers. "Only my name, or my hands or my l…"

April rolled her eyes, but giggled. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, only you touch my ass now, I get it…Will you just…go sit up front so I can change, please? We've been on the side of the road way too long, I wanna get to Lake Tahoe and be your wife already." Jackson nodded, going around to the driver's seat and starting the car.

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><p>"Babe, how did you know this place was 13 hours away," April yawned the next morning. They were ten minutes away from their destination, finally.<p>

"Thought you didn't wanna get into that."

"12 hours ago…"

"Sweetheart just…"

"Come on Jackson, in a few hours we'll be married. No more secrets."

"No more secrets, huh?"

"Nope." She squeezed his hand, which she'd hardly let go of since changing into his scrubs 8 hours ago.

Jackson took a deep breath. "I knew it was 13 hours to Lake Tahoe because I looked it up while I was waiting for you to get your blood test results."

"Oh," April whispered softly, swallowing hard. "But why? Jackson we were going to have a big wedding, then. In a field with…"

"Butterflies, yeah. But I…" he paused, taking a deep breath. "I wanted to marry you, that night. I wanted to go get married. I figured if…if we were married, first and then told your parents…it would, it would be easier for you. And…And…I just. I just wanted to marry you, April, OK? I knew I wanted to marry you, then. There's…there's nothing more to say." He was getting angry, like he did every time he had feelings he didn't want to talk about.

"It's not OK," April said. "You should have told me."

"April, I tried. I tried telling you in a few ways, the ways I knew how. You weren't…or you didn't know you were….you thought…because we didn't date…"

"I'm sorry," April pressed her nose against his cheek. Jackson continued to drive, not looking back at her. "I'm sorry, and I know. I know now. I'm so in love with you."

Jackson cleared his throat. "I'm sorry too, and I know, too. I'm in love with you."

"Jackson, please look at me."

"Driving, I can't…" But he was saying it as he pulled in to a spot in the hotel parking lot. Reluctantly, he looked into her eyes.

"Can we just agree that that stuff is the past, and start new, baby? Please. I love you and I know it now and I can't wait to be your wife."

"I love you, too. I've never even thought about being anyone else's husband." April pouted and a smirk spread across Jackson's face, because he knew exactly why. "You want to kiss me right now, but you don't want to break your own stupid rule. Ha!" He laughed right in her face, his forehead against hers, green eyes daring her.

"That's a good rule, so that way our first married kiss is extra tasty."

"Stop comparing my kisses to desserts, they're better."

"So much better," April agreed, getting out of the car, to avoid temptation. But she wrapped her arms around him as soon as he got out, walking toward the hotel. "I know what I'm wearing for you tonight," she whispered as they walked inside.

"Oh yeah, what?"

"If I tell you, you won't get through the ceremony."

"Ok, don't." Jackson said unfazed.

"You don't even want a little hint?" April was disappointed.

"Don't need one. You mean…something I haven't ever seen you in, which means either a thong or a g-string. You're not a crotchless kinda girl, yet..Doesn't matter which one, you'll look amazing for about two minutes, until I rip them right off you…" April blushed deeper. He knew her well. "With my teeth…"

He whispered that part in her ear so softly it sent a chill down her entire body. "Jackson Harper, you stop that right now…"

"What April? You can take away kisses but you can't take away my words…."

"Fine, let's just skip the nap, OK?"

"Hell no! I just drove 13 hours straight, practically. Not my fault you suddenly want dessert early. You started this conversation, Kepner."

"Fine, just kiss me then."

"Nope. The next person who takes a bite from my tray is gonna be my wife. You, my friend, are not my wife."

"Friend huh?"

Jackson smiled, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "Yeah, best friend." And then, to the woman at the front desk, "I called, last night about the penthouse suite? Avery."

"Yup, right here Mr. And Mrs. Avery."

"Well, not yet. Can we get a wake-up call in about four hours? We're getting married." April smiled and kissed his cheek. One thing Jackson Avery knew how to do very well was get her to break the rules.


	7. Caught In A Moment

**Honestly, this isn't one of my my favorites. But based on notes, it's a readers' favorite and just cute fluff. Which we need right about now. Plus, this whole set started because I wanted to post YOUR faves...but didn't get much participation. Anyway, point is, nice cute fluffy fluff. THIS baby WILL be fine. Yes I meant eavesdropping. That was embarrassing. Oops.  
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><p>Jackson saw April rubbing her pregnant belly nervously and followed her into the on call room.<p>

"Are you OK, sweetheart?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.

April shut the light. "Yeah, just tired and cranky and achy. I have another surgery in two hours, I just want to take a nap." She sat down on the bottom bunk, yawning.

He sat with her, placed his forehead against hers, looked into her eyes. As her pregnancy had progressed, he had fallen more in love with her each week, if that was even possible. He was going to be a dad in about two weeks, and right now all he cared about was keeping his girls happy and safe. But his wife insisted on working. "You want a back rub?" he whispered.

April kissed Jackson slowly, carefully. Still, it didn't feel like a good enough expression of her love in that moment. "That sounds nice, I love you." She lay on her side and he lay next to her, kneading her shoulders with his hands. "Jackson?" she asked, her voice tiny.

"Yes, mama?"

"I'm scared."

"Of what, sweetheart?"

"Of having her. I'm scared something's gonna go wrong, but I'm also scared of the changes. This sounds really selfish, but I love being married to you, having you all to myself…Oh God, right there babe, really get in there, deeper, that feels so good…" he was massaging her lower back.

At that moment Richard Webber opened the on call room door. He saw Jackson place kisses across his wife's neck, move closer to her. "…Mmm that's nice," he heard April say.

He shut the door quickly, and tried to move Catherine away when she came down the hall a second later. "Errr we can't go in there darling!" he said quickly.

"Why not?" Catherine asked. She always wanted answers, and you'd better have good ones.

"Someone is…Someone is busy…" Richard stuttered.

"Someone?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Two. Well, two people are busy."

"Well Richard, simply tell them that we would like to use the on call room to sleep, as it is meant to be used," she put her hand on the door knob.

"Jackson. Jackson and April are in there," Webber whispered, frantically.

Catherine seethed. "My son knows better than to…" she opened the door quietly, wanting to catch them off guard.

"…And I'm gonna be right there, the whole time, feeding you ice chips and taking your slaps. And I'm not gonna move for one second."

"How do you know I'm gonna slap you?" April yawned.

"It's only your favorite thing to do when I do something wrong. I have a permanent mark on my shoulder." Jackson laughed.

"You do not…Jackson…not for one second?"

"If that's what you want, I will not leave your side for one second, even if there are claw marks in my arm. And nothing will ever change how much I love you. Love for a child is a different kind of love all together, you know that, right?"

He turned her face toward his. "I do. And I love her, too. I just, I'm tired."

He kissed her. "Sleep, April. Close your eyes and sleep."

"Stay," she mumbled, turning to face the wall. She was more comfortable that way.

"Every second," he whispered. He felt her breathing slow. She was so exhausted lately, she fell asleep quickly. He relaxed against her, closing his own eyes.

Catherine felt guilty for eavesdropping on her son for so long, but it was just such a sweet moment, she couldn't help but be proud of the man she raised. She turned to Richard. "My son is napping with his family," she said, smacking his shoulder. "Make sure you know what you walk in on next time." She turned on her heels, walking down the hall determined.

"Where are you going?" Richard asked, confused.

"To the ER, they're gonna need some help for a few hours, and I don't feel like napping with you anymore…Tryin' to make me think I raised a son who would have sex with his wife in an on call room in a hospital full of people, I swear…" Catherine grumbled, rounding the corner.


	8. We Know Each Other

**Hello! This just felt right to post today because of the sneak. I like the angle I tried here. "We Know Each Other" Day 115. Jackson crying during emotional sex. **

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><p>"Tell me more, April," you say, and I smile, pleasantly surprised.<p>

"About church? There's nothing else, really, honey. I'm just really excited you're coming." I feed you some of the strawberry ice cream we are sharing. We just spent 20 minutes driving around looking for the kind with the real strawberries, because you insisted my exact craving be filled. You are a wonderful husband, but a damaged man.

I saw that clearly today, watching Dr. Webber beat you with the weight of your legacy. A legacy that you didn't ask for, but do your best to honor every day. "Tell me about the waffles. Do you want me to make them for you before, or…"

"No, no…" You feed me a spoonful and then kiss my neck. Your lips on my neck and the sugar melting in my mouth overwhelm me in the best way. I have missed your touch, so much. They say sometimes the pregnancy hormones lower your libito, but I've had the opposite problem. I came home to get my Ipod because, when I was running, the little voice in my head saying, 'You could be having sex right now,' would not shut up. I wanted to try and drown it out.

Coming home and not feeling comfortable touching you has just made it louder. Yeah, this feels good. "…Before church, sex. After church, waffles. After waffles, sex."

"Deal," I whisper in your ear and then finish up the bowl of ice cream by myself, while you keep the kisses coming. I feel happy, truly happy, for the first time in this pregnancy and I want to share that with you.

I jump off your lap and pull you toward our bedroom, hoping you see the sparkle in my eye.

"April, I'm sorry." Oh, you want to talk. My pants are already off, and I'm struggling with the buttons of my shirt, but you want to talk. This is weird. "I'm so sorry. It shouldn't have taken me so long to, just agree to…I love you. I'm so in love with you…"

"Shhhh…You did. You took time to think about it, and then you made a decision. Because you wanted to. I wouldn't have it any other way." I kiss you, before you can say another word. Maybe you need to feel the forgiveness on my lips, too; maybe hearing it is not enough.

"…But I hurt you so much, I said things I didn't mean, and I almost…I was almost just like…"

"But you didn't. You didn't lose me. And you weren't…you weren't like him." I'm not sure if you mean Harper or James. But I know how you were going to finish those sentences. We have a lot to learn about each other, but we have to remember that we know each other, if this is going to work. "I hurt you, too, Jackson. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I left. But I'm back. I've been back. And we're going to be fine. And right now, I want to make love to you. Show me how much you love me."

You understand. And we have maybe the best sex of our marriage, thus far. Besides our wedding night. Which turned into the next day. And the next afternoon. With just naps in between. Naps, wherein we were still connected to each other. Talking to each other, even. You mumble in your sleep.

I know what you need tonight. I try and scream louder, moan louder, talk to you, more. You're always saying you want to hear me more. But about halfway through, you forget what I need.

It baffles me, because you are so good at giving me what I need, usually. And making me comfortable, telling you. Sex was never our problem. So, why aren't you looking at me? "Jackson, I'm almost…I'm gonna…Please…look at me, love. Look at me."

You don't, so I turn your face toward me and see them. The tears. "Oh babe…don't ever…don't hide these, promise? I love you. Every part of you. Even the tears. Especially the tears. Look at me, Jackson."

You do. And start moving inside me, faster. I start to cry, feeling you, all of you, even your emotions. You wipe my tears away, and I let you cry. Tears slide from your eyes down my body, and I have never felt more connected to you. We know each other.


	9. Reminders

**This one was originally called "Breaking Point" but I changed the name for publishing here. It's from Day 110 and the prompt was for April to see something of Steph's. I really love it, but also notes-wise I think it's a fave of everyone. I've been meaning to post it, but other one's felt more "right" to post in past weeks. After the preview for 11x10, this one feels SO right for this week, though. Ahhh, still have residual feels from that 1 second and will all week. PS: I fixed the changing sheets dilemma, if you remember it from the original post ;) **

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><p>April squealed as Jackson picked her up and carried her over the threshold of his apartment. "Babe, we already did this part, remember?" she whispered in his ear and then kissed down his neck. They were heading straight for the bedroom, and she wouldn't have it any other way. They'd been driving for 14 hours straight, pretty much. The bags were safe in the car, they could wait.<p>

"Oh did we? Everything before the sex is kind of a blur, to me. A wonderful blur of course."

She giggled as he threw her on the bed, pulling off her t-shirt and unclasping her bra so fast it was almost one motion. "Refresh my memory on the sex, Jackson, what did we do?"

"Ahh, do you really forget or do you just want me to talk dirty to you, April?" She blushed. They had a lot of work to do on her insecurities during sex. He took her red face as his answer "Well we didn't make it to the bed, that's for sure." He kissed down her stomach and undid the tie of her sweats, pulling them down.

"No, we didn't did we? What'd we do? Tell me." She shimmied away from him before he could get her underwear off, forcing him to get on the bed with her. She pulled off his shirt, kissing his shoulders, his face, his abs, his stomach, everywhere.

He pulled her close, so their bodies touched as he breathed in her ear. "Well, you immediately took your favorite position against the wall. But you didn't know it was your favorite then, you were just doing it so I had easy access to the tiny little buttons all the way down the sexy strapless wedding dress you bought. Just for me." He paused to kiss her. "Once I finally got it off, you wanted to turn to show me what you were wearing, and I asked you to wait because I wanted you to try new things, as my wife…"

"Stop, Jackson." April had caught sight of a bra at the end of the bed. But hers had fallen at Jackson's feet on the side.

"That's not what you said, sweet…"

"No, Jacks, stop. there's a bra, her bra…"

He pulled away, rushing off the bed to make the bra disappear. But April was already sitting up, t-shirt on. "I'm sorry babe, she…she stayed here the night before your…"

"… Wedding to Matthew." April bit her lip, sound barely coming out of her mouth. She couldn't look him in the eye.

"Hey, look at me, babe." He put his finger under her chin, forcing her to look up. "I am so lucky, that you chose to be _my _wife. I feel like the luckiest man in the world, thank you."

He pecked her lips, and she kissed him back, reluctantly. "You're welcome."

But he knew her. "What's wrong? April, talk to me."

"Her hair, it's all over the pillow, there."

Jackson gave a guilty shrug. "I never could figure out how in the world to get rid of all the hair…It's…" He cleared his throat. "It's probably all over this place. And her toothbrush is probably in my sink..Babe. I…I'm sorry. There was really no way around this, I guess."

April nodded in agreement, but was still pouting. "Did you have sex with her, the…the night before you…"

It was Jackson's turn not to be able to meet April's eyes. "Yeah, yup. I did." A tear fell down April's face. He looked up in time to wipe it away. "Hey sweetie. I didn't wake up that morning saying, 'I'm going to stop April's wedding today…' I had buried my feelings so deep that I didn't even know their full strength until I was standing up there, waiting for your reply, petrified you would say no and I…would be lost."

"I know, Jackson. I just…I can't…I can't make love to you in that bed."

"…Because of the hair? Babe I can.." He crawled over to the pillow in question and removed the clump of black hair. "I can, I can have the whole place cleaned by tomorrow."

"No, Jackson…I…I can't…I can't sleep with you in this bed." April stood up. "I…I know it's weird but…I'm sorry…It's just you loved her and, that's fine, but…"

"Hey. Listen to me. I've never been in love with anyone else in my life. You are the only person I have ever been in love with. That's the truth, OK? That's the reason why it took me so long to realize, I think. Do you believe me?

"Yes, I believe you. I do…I just, Jackson, I really don't want to sleep in this bed. I want to get a new bed…"

Jackson sighed. "I think that's really silly, April. But if you want to go to your place for awhile, until…"

"We can't. We can't stay at my place. There's too many…" She paused, unable to think of the right word. "…Reminders."

Jackson was losing his patience, slowly. "Alright, April. Well, there's reminders here and reminders there so you have to pick your poison. I can handle the reminders of him, so if you want to go…"

"Please don't do that, Jackson. Don't dismiss my feelings like that. I'm sorry…I can't help it…I…wish it didn't bother me. I know you did nothing wrong. I just wanna start new with you. I want to forget everything, and start new…" She fell into his arms, crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry April. What do you want to do, put blankets on the floor? The bed kind of makes it hard to…"

Then he got an idea. He ran to the closet and pulled out the sleeping bag his mom made him buy the one year she insisted they go on a family camping trip with Harper. One mosquito bite and she was back in the van in a heartbeat.

"You wanna sleep in this and tomorrow we can, figure out the bed thing. We have one more day at home. Is that ok?"

April ran after him, down the hall. "Yeah, but…where will you sleep, babe?"

Jackson sighed, exasperated. "I was gonna just sleep in the bed, April. It's a one person sleeping bag and I can't really spread out on the couch. I respect you're feelings but…"

"Seriously, on our third night married, you feel good about that choice?"

"No April," Jackson threw up his hands. "I want my wife to sleep in the bed with me. In fact, I'd have no problem picking up where we left off 15 minutes ago, but…"

"Fine honey, I understand. I respect your choice, as well. Goodnight. I love you." She kissed him, but there was a chill in her voice and stone in her eyes.

"I love you too, April," he said, as she crawled into the sleeping bag. "I don't really know what you want from me, here. I'll book us a hotel room tomorrow, if we can't get a bed in."

"Goodnight, Jackson." April yawned, and waited for his bedroom door to slam before she let more tears fall.

First, Jackson changed the sheets. He thought about asking her if that made any difference to her, but he knew deep down it wouldn't. Now the sheets weren't filled with sex ghosts, great. He should've changed them before he let her come in the room. But this was about something deeper, to her.

He tossed and turned in bed for five minutes before he realized what a jackass he was being. It might be a really uncomfortable night sleep, but of course he wanted to be next to her, or at least in the same room as her, every single night. That was essentially the point of marriage.

"Scoot over, you're tiny. I think I can fit in there, if you don't mind being squished a little," he said, startling her when he entered the living room.

"Seriously?" He heard her sniffle. "I think you're right, it's kinda small."

"Well then get up, I brought a comforter, just in case. And a sheet. And an extra blanket…are these…She's slept under these though, is that…But they're clean I promise..." The question was sincere. He honestly had no idea what April's breaking point was, exactly.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." She stood up, allowing him to create the makeshift bed.

"April, I'm sorry I….it took me a few minutes to cool off and understand, better," Jackson said when they were finally under covers. "I'm so sorry I made you cry. I was an idiot. Of course, I want to sleep wherever you are for the rest of our lives."

"That's good to know, but I did understand why you…I was honestly crying because…We have a lot of stuff to figure out, now. We can't just start where we left off, we're married, now. That's a big deal."

"I know. I'm a little scared too. But I'm gonna be here next to you."

She squeezed his hand under the covers. "You know what we can continue where we left off, though?" she whispered in his ear.

Jackson winced, wondering if he should just keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't help himself. "Uhhh April, I've…"

She cut him off. "Did you cuddle, after?"

"On the floor? Nope. No we never cuddled on the floor." They'd actually just moved into the kitchen, but Jackson was smart enough to keep that part to himself.

"Then, there's no problem." She rolled on top of him. At least he knew her breaking point, now. Actual intimacy.

"Babe?" He pulled away from a kiss. "We're gonna need all new couches, too…and we probably should just get rid of that chair in here, it's ugly right? Yeah."

"Very ugly, honey, but I don't think you should be allowed to talk anymore, tonight."

Jackson grinned. "Fine with me…I'm just gonna…" April pulled her t-shirt off again. "Yeah, I'll shut up, now."

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><p><strong>Author's note: I have to add this note because I will defend this story to the death and I want to make some things clear. <strong>

**1. The most random stupid things "inspire" me to post certain one shots every week. Yes, the bed scene at the end did inspire me. But also the fact that Jackson IS TRYING to care for April here. He's trying to understand, and failing...and getting frustrated. Just like 11x09.**

**2. OF COURSE STACKSON IS RELEVANT HERE. It's the day they got home from getting married and she sees Steph's bra in the Apartment. Of course it would be there, THEY NEVER BROKE UP! No matter what Jesse said. Just based on the timing in the prompt the fact that he was with Stephanie is VERY important. **

**That's all I have to say, really. I mean, normally I don't feel the need to put anything like this in my posts but...Yeah that's all. I hope most of you understood that. **


	10. Great In Bed

**How is everyone? I'm not great, honestly. Life stress + Japril stress is not a good mix for me. I figured some fluff would be good, but it also fits because of April's badass "shut up" speech last night. It's from day 22 a prompt asking for April to have a moment like she did in her "we all have things we don't talk about" speech. That's all I've got for you today! Anyway hope you like this!**

* * *

><p>"How was he?" Meredith leaned in toward her sister-in-law from across the table in the attending's lounge. Amelia had broken up with James a few weeks ago and was "dating" now. By dating she meant having a lot of sex. "Derek's away all the time now, I need details about sex, I'm not having any."<p>

"Eww thanks for the visual of my brother, Mer, geez," Amy rolled her eyes. "But he was good, so good. We didn't even get home, we pulled over to the side of the road and…"

"…And this is my cue to leave," Jackson said, picking up his bag of chips. April started to follow, wordlessly.

"Oh yeah, Amelia, don't put Jackson through the details, I bet he only gets any in bed, on Friday nights, missionary, with the lights off. I bet that's all Jesus approves of, and only if Jackson sits in church on Sunday. Right April?" Callie snickered. Meridith and Amelia's eyes widened, but they let out small laughs. Alex nearly spit out his soda.

Jackson raised his eyebrows at Callie angrily. He didn't think she'd ever stoop that low, being a woman of faith herself. Nor did he think that April had done anything to deserve that comment, no matter if they disagreed on a patient's treatment today.

He kissed the back of April's neck and tried to push her out the door. But she turned on her heels before she left. "Actually, I'm great in bed. I love sex. Jackson gets it pretty much whenever he wants, however he wants. He's the only man I've ever been with, so I trust him on a level that you couldn't understand if you tried. This one time, in the shower, I did this …"

"Babe, don't tell them about the twirly thing, that's just for us," Jackson whispered softly in her ear. He fully supported this rant though. April usually considered sex a very private thing, but if she wanted to tell them how much sex she had, who was he to stop her?

"And sometimes, all we do after church on Sunday is have sex. Especially if Jackson gave to the collection that week. Or if Father Tom said something mean about non-believers, because I feel bad. All I ask is that he sit there and hold my hand, too. He'd not required to listen as long as he's not blatant about checking the scores. And he gets to leave whenever Gracie gets bored, which is always," April wanted to be clear about that, she was sick of people making comments about Jackson letting April influence his views.

"Last week, the sermon was making me mad, it was all about how non-believers were going to hell. So we left. We put the baby in the daycare and went right to the church bathroom, locked the door, and made love on the sink." April smiled, remembering. Callie was just staring, speechless. "We like public places, for some reason, but who hasn't stopped the South tower elevator in this place to have sex, right? It doesn't disrupt patient care. And when you own the hospital, you can stop it for an hour, no worries. Jackson was bored at the Harper Avery's last week, so we snuck up to the roof and, well…"

"I was…I was honored for my research last week…" Callie stuttered.

"Oh yeah, we missed that, sorry," April put on her best fake apology face. "You don't mind, though, right? I'm just an annoying Jesus-loving freak who lets religion influence her medical decisions. But, at least you'll never call me a prude again. I have so much sex, and my husband makes sure I come every single time, " she blushed, because it was true. "How 'bout you Callie? How often do you orgasm? Or do you not care to share the details of your sex life with me, as we're not friends? Would that make you uncomfortable? I'm sorry, I wouldn't want to make a surgeon who was recently honored by Harper Avery himself uncomfortable. Did I tell you that honor was my idea? Yeah, I didn't think it was fair your research was going unnoticed just because Harper owns the hospital…so I called him up. I'm the mother of his great-granddaughter, who melted his heart. He does anything for me…I kind of regret the idea now. But at least I didn't sit through your speech. I was busy."

With that, April stormed out the door and down the hall angrily. Jackson smirked at all of his co-workers, whose mouths were hanging open, before he followed his wife.

"I'm so sorry Jackson, I don't know what got into me, I just got so mad," she said when he caught up with her.

"Hey, look at me," he said, making sure her eyes were staring at his. "I'm so proud of you, that was incredibly hot." He kissed her.

"But I told them all about the church and the roof and…"

"You didn't tell them about the planes and the train, that time, or the carousel, that was fun." April just looked down. "You also stuck up for yourself, your decisions, your beliefs and me, all in one rant. Impressive."

"How did I stick up for you? I just blurted out details that I ask you not to talk about all the time. I want our sex life to be private."

"And from now on, it will be. No one's gonna ask you about it again. Or ask me why I go to church, thank you for that," Jackson laughed. "I owe you. What do you wanna do tonight? Family movie night with Gracie, hmmm? I'll get java chip ice cream and we can cuddle and watch Nemo, just no more of that "Frozen" crap. The terrible two-year-old doesn't pick tonight. I'll even give you a back rub." They were alone, so he put his hand on her belly, she was 8 weeks pregnant with their second child.

April kissed her husband. "Will you put her to bed early, alone?"

"Yeah, sure."

"And then can we do the twirly thing?" she whispered and blushed.

Jackson grinned, kissing April's neck. "Do you even have to ask?"


End file.
